Ruins
by Spunky0ne
Summary: Ywach's treachery leaves a trail of broken hearts and lives. As the rain washes everything away, four couples try to pick up the pieces...yaoi, mpreg…Grimmjow/Ichigo, Byakuya/Renji, Rikichi/Tetsuya, Aizen/Urahara
1. Torrent

**Ruins**

 **By Spunky0ne**

 **(Blame it on boredom, or the raging infection of the pack. I couldn't stop the muse on this one. She's gone rogue...again.)**

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 _ **Ywach's treachery leaves a trail of broken hearts and lives. As the rain washes everything away, four couples try to pick up the pieces...yaoi, mpreg…Grimmjow/Ichigo, Byakuya/Renji, Rikichi/Tetsuya, Aizen/Urahara**_

 **XXXXXXXXXX**

 **Chapter 1: Torrent**

Ishida Uryu stood at the edge of the Seireitei battlefield, his body white-lit and still tingling, and his heart pounding from the release of the specially tipped arrow his father had given him.

 _God, please let this work!_

He felt a little jolt inside as the arrow found its mark, and the way to victory was, for a moment, opened.

"Now, Kurosaki!" he screamed desperately.

In front of him, Ichigo's slender form exploded with golden light as he swiftly turned and sliced across the quincy king's torso.

For just a split second, there was no sound at all, just a deep, throbbing feeling of impact that reached down and seemed to shake Soul Society to the very core. Then came the deafening rush of sound, and an eruption so violent that it wrapped around Uryu's body, lifting him into the air and tossing him like a paper doll, spinning helplessly out of control until he crashed down nearly a mile from where he had been, and only his blut kept him from taking frightening damage.

 _That is the ferocious, unrelenting power of Ywach's evil that, even as it dies, wreaks havoc on everything it touches._

He was unsurprised that the force of it left him lying on his back, looking up into a sea of swirling black, his body numb and frozen as the signals from his nerves were momentarily interrupted.

 _It's over._

 _It's really over._

 _The one who killed our mothers, and who tried to destroy everything…is gone._

For several minutes, Uryu could only lie on the ground, watching smoke, ash and debris billow in the air above him, could only hear the continued rushing as Ywach's power rolled outward, vaporizing everything within a mile of the impact point.

 _Anyone without strong reiatsu will disappear and no trace will be left_ , the quincy youth thought, with an inward chill, _Luckily, the only ones I sensed there were Ywach, Ichigo, Renji and Aizen…and all of them but Ywach should be well enough protected. Still, they will be disabled for awhile after._

Uryu waited until the rumbling of the ground stopped, and the filthy air above him began to clear. Feeling returned to his collapsed body slowly, and he climbed to his feet and looked quietly back in the direction of the impact point. Ywach, he could sense, was dead, but he was glad to also sense that Ichigo's strong reiatsu still radiated somewhere ahead of him. And it seemed that Urahara Kisuke and several others were hurrying to that place.

 _Soul Society is no place for any quincy who wants to live,_ Uryu decided.

He felt the nearby touch of his own father's reiatsu and Ichigo's, and he turned in their direction and employed his hirenkyaku.

 _It's time now for all of us to start picking up the pieces._

XXXXXXXXXX

Near the edge of the blast zone, two unseated officers watched with widened eyes as ground beneath their feet shook for a moment, and in the distance, thick black smoke, blazing fire and unrelenting reiatsu mushroomed and billowed outward in a deadly, spreading circle of destruction. Yuki Rikichi sucked in a worried breath and focused on the stark outlines of a cluster of ruined sakura trees just a short distance ahead of them.

"That's where Tetsu-chan was defending the Kuchiki ecampment!" he exclaimed softly, "Come on, Ryuu we have to hurry!"

Their flash step engaged, and the two shot forward, racing between the skeletal remains of the trees and barely staying ahead of the incoming rush of choking smoke and soot.

"If that gets here too fast, we won't be able to find him!" Yuki Ryuunosuke exclaimed.

"Don't think about that," his elder brother chided him, "Just keep running!"

The two hurried through the trees and to the edge of a burned out meadow, where Rikichi took hold of his brother's arm and stopped the younger boy.

"Did you feel that?" he hissed softly, looking around.

Ryuu shivered and nodded, his mind going back, for a moment, to the first wave of quincy attacks, where he had watched his superior officer get swiftly defeated. Rikichi's brown eyes fixed on Ryuu's round green ones, and softened.

"Don't worry," he said, patting his brother's face gently, "They're going to be fleeing, now that the quincy king has died. But, we will still need to be careful."

He paused and fished out two healer's bags from within a pack he carried.

"Put this on," Rikichi directed him.

"Huh?" Ryuu mused, blinking.

"Don't let your sword manifest," Riki warned the younger boy.

"It won't," Ryuu sighed, frowning and looking down at himself, "It got broke in the first attack and it hasn't formed again."

"Good, it's actually better that way," Rikichi said, smiling, "Trust me, okay."

"What are you gonna do?"

"It's a trick I learned from Tetsu-chan to fool an enemy into thinking you're not a threat."

"Eh, not that we'd really be a threat to a quincy," Ryuu noted, shaking his head.

"No, not really," he brother admitted ruefully, "but this might just keep any quincies we run into from killing us on sight. If they assume we're healers, we will probably be left alone."

"Okay, if you say so."

"Come on, now, we need to find Tetsu-chan!"

Ryuu's worried eyes focused on his brother's back as they moved on.

"Do you think he's all right?" he asked more softly, "We haven't felt his reiatsu all of this time we've been looking."

He started to say more, but his words ended in a yelp as he tripped over the root of an upended tree and tumbled forward, over a little cliff.

"Ryuu!" Rikichi exclaimed, flash stepping after him.

He flew over the edge of the little cliff and caught hold of his brother's shihakusho, then realized as he did, that it wasn't really a good idea. He was pulled into a frightful tumble, and the two rolled and crashed and bumped their way down the incline, skidding to a stop at the very bottom.

"Ugh!" Rikichi groaned, sitting up and holding his head in his hands.

"Riki!" Ryuu gasped, staring as he came face to face with two angry looking quincies, who carried the unconscious body of a man dressed in the navy blue livery of the Kuchiki house guards.

 _Tetsu-chan!_ Rikichi thought, staring.

"What have we here?" the taller of the two quincies mused, his lips curling as he sneered at the two youths.

"P-please, we're healers!" Rikichi said, indicating their packs, "We were ordered to come here to find injured. We're only here to heal people."

"So, I see," the quincy said, eyeing the two, "Well, we're in need of healers right now, because of the devastation here. So, if you wanna live, get your asses over here, and come with us."

"You can try to run away if you want, little cowards," the second quincy huffed, "But if you do, be ready to die. We'll kill you the second you move."

"Y-you don't need to do that," Rikichi said, forcing calm into his voice that he didn't feel at all, "We have an oath to heal any injured, whoever they may be."

"Fine. Igor, tie their hands."

"Is that really necessary?" Rikichi asked, earning a quick, sharp cuff that left him reeling.

"Shut up, and do what you're told!" the taller quincy snapped.

Rikichi bit his lip gently and gave his brother a warning look.

 _There are heavy losses on both sides, and many, many injured. Healers will be in short supply, so it makes sense that they'd spare us and just take us to their camp. We'll just play along until we have a chance to free Tetsu-chan._

 _It will be all right._

 _But…I wonder why, this close to him, I still can't sense his reiatsu at all…_

XXXXXXXXXX

The mingled sounds of flash step and sonido sounded as a lone shinigami and a tall, blue-haired hollow touched down, their feet making a squelching sound as they impacted the surface of the tarry looking muck that covered the broken ground.

"Ugh!" Grimmjow groaned, kicking his foot to get the gunk off, "Disgusting!"

Kisuke paused and looked around, reaching out with his senses.

"There's lots of interference from the shock created by Ywach's destruction," he warned the former sexta Espada, "It's going to be hard getting a fix on Ichigo's position, so why don't you go that way and I'll go this way, okay?"

"Grrwl, whatever you say," Grimmjow snarled, glaring at the mess around him, "Though I don't know why I'm doing this. I already fulfilled my fucking contract with you. This wasn't in the fine print!"

"Yeah, well," the shopkeeper chuckled, smirking, "Shit happens, right? I just need your help for a little longer, and I'll make it worth your while, okay?"

"You'd better," the hollow huffed, turning away, "I'll look over here."

"Thanks," Kisuke said, starting in the opposite direction.

 _Kami, what a mess_ , Kisuke thought as he waded through the black ooze on the ground, _It'll be hard to find anyone with the signals being distorted. We need to find Ichigo and the others and get them some help. Even though their reiatsu will have protected them from the blast that exploded from Ywach's body when he was killed, Ichigo, Renji and yes, Aizen, will have probably been knocked out by the eruption of raw power. We need to find them and make sure they don't fall into the wrong hands while they're vulnerable._

He paused and studied the area, shaking his head in frustration at the level of destruction.

"So much damage," he whispered, rubbing his chin, "and with all of this slop covering it, can't see to even identify the pieces. No way to tell exactly where we are…just a crapshoot, really."

A rumble of thunder made him pause and suck in a surprised breath.

 _All of the smoke and ash made the sky look black. Couldn't have told it was going to start raining…but that could be a good thing for us. It'll help us find a path to the injured, while making it harder for our enemy to spot us, if they're around wanting to cause trouble._

He glanced down at his much thinner and badly aching body.

 _We've been pushed to the brink. It's good for us that most of the remaining quincies are choosing to run._

Water droplets began to fall, and the shopkeeper grimaced at the greasy feel of the first of them.

 _Ah, the air is easier to breathe without all of that bad stuff in it. It's like Soul Society knows the worst is over and is trying to start washing away the memories._

 _I wish I could._

 _This was a tough one._

As he began to search through the wreckage, images flashed in his mind, memories of the fallen captain commander, the gentle, smiling fourth division taicho with a deadly secret, the white haired taicho...

He paused, frowning as he moved a large piece of sheet metal and found three shinigamis lying side-by-side in a small shelter someone had built around them. The three appeared to be unconscious, but breathing, and as the rain splashed down into the opened up area, it washed away the grime that coated their skin, revealing familiar faces.

 _Kiyone and Sentaro…which means that this person between them is…_

He felt a pang of sadness at the memory of how the thirteenth division taicho had sacrificed himself, freeing the bit of the god that inhabited his ailing body.

 _So that we might have some hope._

He frowned as he leaned over the white-haired man and looked more closely. The frown deepened as he heard perfect respiration, and no sign of the little rattle in his breaths.

 _His lungs should be gone by now._

 _He shouldn't be alive._

But a deeper scan revealed no life threatening conditions.

 _And his lungs are perfectly clear._

 _They've never been perfectly clear._

 _What the hell happened here?_

The shopkeeper's fingers traced the unconscious taicho's peaceful face and body, searching for hints of reiatsu.

 _There is something there…but the power the touched him was so strong, the reiatsu radiated at such a high level that I simply can't read it. It reminds me of when Aizen Sosuke went transcendent._

 _Who did this?_

 _Was it Aizen? But, the hogyoku stopped responding to him. This doesn't make any sense._

He closed his eyes for a moment, his frown deepening as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing in front of him.

 _So strange…_

He heard a sudden groan from nearby and stiffened, crouching and looking around. Swiftly, he set a protective barrier around the three unconscious soldiers and he crawled out of the protected area. His pale grey eyes scanned the area, and just caught the shifting of debris, off to his right. He angled in that direction, his senses extended, but unable to read the person's reiatsu through the continued spiritual interference Ywach's death had caused.

"Ugh!" the person ahead of him grunted, struggling beneath several crisscrossed pillars that had collapsed, pinning him.

Kisuke moved closer and came to a stop as he recognized the man.

"Well, Sosuke, good to see you survived," he said, smirking, "Ready to go back to your cell?"

He made a sound of surprise as Aizen finally threw off one of the pillars and crawled out, revealing the fact that his body was horrifically damaged.

 _From the battle?_

 _But shouldn't he have begun to heal? He may not have the power of the hogyoku at his command, but having it fused to his soul gives him regeneration and immortality._

 _Doesn't it?_

Aizen's one remaining arm began to shake, and he collapsed onto his belly, groaning and leaking blood from his mouth and nose.

"Shit," he breathed, flash stepping to the fallen man's side.

A quick examination revealed that, in addition to being minus one limb a large hole had been opened up in the injured man's chest, near his heart. The shopkeeper's fingers gently moved the tattered bits of his clothing, revealing the darkened orb that was still fused with him.

"Huh…"

He raised a kido light and studied the hogyoku more closely, his eyes narrowing as he struggled to make sense of what he was seeing in front of him. At first, he thought he was seeing a crack in the blackened surface of the orb, but then, he realized.

 _It's not just cracked, the entire surface is shattered! That's just not supposed to happen. What the hell did this? Was it the same power that Juushiro's lungs? But no, that was a healing power. And this…this could possibly have happened when Ywach died and his power went nuts and struck everything around. Still, the hogyoku and Ywach's power are both transcendent, so I wouldn't have expected the hogyoku to shatter like this. It suggests something else in addition…but what?_

"Are you going to leave me here to die?" Aizen asked suddenly, derailing the shopkeeper's thinking, "Not that I would blame you, of course. But, if you're not going to kill me, a little bit of pain relief would be desirable."

Kisuke bit his lip gently, considering.

"What is that expression?" Aizen went on, his voice beginning to shake, "It's not very merciful. But then…you never really were, were you?"

"Don't know what you mean, Sosuke," Kisuke chuckled, moving, "I haven't done anything to increase the pain for you. And we all know how much you'd deserve it if I did."

"Shades of humanity," Aizen coughed, "Such an odd balance of good and evil. I've…always rather liked that about you."

"Relax. I only hesitated because you caught me thinking."

"That could be troublesome for me."

"Could be," the shopkeeper said, smirking, "That depends."

Aizen managed a pained smile.

"On what you feel is right?" he asked.

"On how much you arouse my curiosity," Kisuke corrected him, the pupils of his eyes glinting softly, "I would have expected your regeneration to have kicked in by now."

"But the orb shattered," Aizen mused, quivering, "I see that makes you curious…and a little slow. I did ask for a pain block."

"Sure," Kisuke said absently, continuing to stare at the hogyoku's badly cracked surface as he yielded the kido spell to relieve the injured man's pain.

"Thank you."

"Such nice manners from such a wicked man," Kisuke snickered, "You must want something."

"I do."

"I'm not letting you go. You wouldn't get ten feet anyway."

"I know."

Kisuke's pale eyes met Aizen's darker, deeper ones squarely.

"Then, what do you want?"

Aizen's tremulous smile returned.

"I want the same thing you do…something that neither one of us will learn if I am sent back and placed in the hands of that monstrous psychopath you placed in your former division."

"Soul Society's most talented psychopath meets its most talented sociopath. I'd buy tickets to that."

Aizen let out a shuddering breath.

"I have seen it, and it holds nothing that you and I would find particularly arousing. After all, just inflicting brutish pain on someone relentlessly, even if that person deserves it, offers nothing to increase our knowledge…does it, Urahara Kisuke? And where I would have tolerated the abuse and, albeit slowly, recovered before, the damage to the hogyoku is extreme. I think the orb is dying. That does not bode well for me."

Kisuke touched curious fingertips to the device and nodded briefly.

"You're right," he said, shaking his head in wonder, "What the hell did this?"

"I would like to know that as well," Aizen agreed, "So, the question becomes, what will you choose to do with me?"

XXXXXXXXXX

As soon as the tenchurren doors opened, Byakuya flash stepped out, hastily leaving Rukia with orders to head for the Kuchiki encampment.

"Find Tetsuya, and tell him to be ready for a stream of incoming wounded!"

"Hai!" Rukia shouted back to him, flash stepping in the opposite direction.

Byakuya ignored the pouring rain that quickly drenched his clothing, and the splashes of mud that spattered the fine cloth that had only just been cleaned and repaired before his return.

 _I felt before that blast. Renji was already injured. He was unconscious, but he was alive. Now, I feel nothing coming from the battlefield! Nothing but the radiating of Ywach's dying power. I have to get there quickly._

 _He may not have much time._

He flash stepped forward, missing entirely the blue-haired hollow he passed that merely glanced in his direction and let out a huffing breath.

"Huh."

Grimmjow scowled at the continuing downpour as he continued to move around the devastated area, his senses extended and looking for Ichigo's reiatsu.

 _I know you didn't die, you bastard. How many times have we all seen it? You get sliced up and stop breathing for awhile, but somehow, you always survive. Whether it's the girl Aizen stole, or you going full hollow, you always fucking survive. Even a guy like me's got to appreciate your nerve, Kurosaki._

 _Where th'fuck are you?_

He continued forward, shivering at the icy cut of the wind and the pelting rain.

"Ugh, damn it!" he swore, raising an arm to shield his narrowed eyes.

A little jolt went through him as he spotted the outline of a slender man who held a shattered sword in his hand. He rested on his knees, haunted golden brown eyes fixed on a mangled lump of fiercely radiant flesh and bone.

"Fuck…" he panted, squinting and shivering, "What're you doing, Kurosaki?"

Grimmjow moved forward, joining the kneeling shinigami in front of the dead king. He shook his head and let out a disgusted breath, his mind hit with sudden images of the carnage the quincies had wrought upon the land of the hollows.

"Good riddance, you son of a bitch."

He turned his head to give Ichigo a satisfied smirk, but it died on his lips as he read the dark, horrified expression on the ginger-haired man's face.

"Ichigo?"

The frozen shinigami didn't move or speak. Grimmjow moved in front of him and grabbed him by his quaking shoulders.

"What? Are you shell shocked or something? Ichigo, answer me! What th'fuck's wrong with you? ICHIGO!"


	2. Black, White and Red

**Chapter 2: Black, White and Red**

Shunsui knelt quietly at the bedside of his longtime friend, gently holding Juushiro's pale hand in his and smiling down at him.

"You have no idea how glad I am that you could be saved," the captain commander sighed, "And now, maybe when you wake, you will reconsider about what we talked about before…when you thought you were doomed to death. Things are a mess right now, but there are lights burning now that will bring us all through. Juushiro…"

"Kyoraku sotaicho," Nanao said solemnly as she stepped into the room alongside Kiyone and Sentaro, "these two have been healed and say they are ready to answer your questions about what happened to Ukitake taicho on the battlefield."

"Ah, come in, come in!" Shunsui said, grinning up at the two, "I wasn't sure how long it would be before you were up and about. Sit down here and we can talk."

"Sir," Nanao went on, "Akon of Squad 12 reports that a repositioning of the shakonmaku has been completed, and that it will now resolve the problem of the quincies being able to open direct doorways into Soul Society."

"Ah, good," Shunsui chuckled, "So, now if they want to come in, they'll have to knock, eh?"

"Very funny, sir," his fukutaicho said dryly, "We have put the entirety of Soul Society on lockdown, as you ordered, and Akon has left the quincies only the ability to flee."

"Well, the ones that are left are really just the rank and file," Shunsui mused, "They are still enough to cause trouble while we are gathering ourselves and reorganizing. It's better that we let the ones leave who will, and only engage the ones who are still trying to attack us."

"I agree," Nanao said, nodding briefly, "although, at this point, there isn't much left in the Seireitei to attack. They leveled most of it."

"It'll be awhile," Shunsui said calmly, "but we will rebuild."

"Resources are being gathered and counted. We'll prioritize after that. Central 46…well, the few noble elders who survived the slaughter there, they've issued curfew orders, and fast approved necessary repairs to the prison and healing facilities."

"Has Aizen been recovered yet?" Shunsui asked.

"No, sir," Nanao reported, "The recovery teams have not found him. We know that Urahara Kisuke went out into the battlefield when he returned, but he has not reported in yet."

"Okay, thank you."

Shunsui turned his attention to the two officers who had joined him at Ukitake's side.

"Now then, why don't you two tell me, did you see how Juushiro was healed? Do you know who did this healing?"

The two younger officers exchanged glances, then nodded together.

"Sir," Kiyone said with widened eyes, "the man who healed Ukitake taicho said he was from the Kuchiki encampment. He identified himself as Kuchiki taicho's personal healer and bodyguard, Kuchiki Tetsuya."

"Tetsuya-kun?" Shunsui asked, rubbing his chin and tilting his head.

"You know him, sir?" asked Kiyone.

"We've met," Shunsui confirmed, "He is a shy person, who usually stays out of sight, but he has Byakuya's confidence. I'd heard that he was responsible for evacuating the Kuchiki properties and subfamilies to the encampment. He and the Kuchiki house guards were protecting the encampment."

"Tetsuya-san told us that he had sensed the very odd reiatsu in our area," Sentaro explained.

"He felt Mimihagi-sama's reaitsu!" Kiyone added.

"And he left the other guards to come and investigate. When he saw Ukitake taicho struggling to breathe and learned he was dying, he knelt at Ukitake taicho's side and he said that all he could do was to make our taicho's passing more painless and calm. But…when his power touched Ukitake taicho…eh, something really strange happened!" Sentaro exclaimed.

"Tetsuya-san looked surprised for a second, and his body began to glow," Kiyone said excitedly, "Then, the power that came out of his hands changed from the usual healing green to blue, then to perfect white."

"His eyes looked scared, sir," Kentaro reported, "and we heard Mimhagi say something to him, but we couldn't understand the words."

"Well, we did catch one word," Kiyone corrected him, "The word was _truthbearer_. We don't know what it all meant."

"And before we could really talk about it, we felt the blast of Ywach's power as he was struck down. Tetsuya-san told us to stay down, and he placed himself in the path of the oncoming wave. He was shielding us."

"We yelled at him to get down with us, but he braced himself. And we saw a black horse come running to him that also poured power into the shield," Kiyone recalled.

"We were sure that it would shatter, and he'd be blown away," Kentaro said, frowning as he remembered, "When the power struck, there was blinding light."

"And we heard Tetsuya-san and the horse screaming…not like pain, but more like determination."

The power that struck was so violent, that even protected like we were, we lost consciousness. We don't know what happened to Tetsuya-san. We passed out and didn't wake up until we were here."

"Hmm," Shunsui mused, "it sounds like I need to talk to Tetsuya-kun. Nanao, will you please get word to the Kuchiki encampment? I want Kuchiki Tetsuya brought to the first division as soon as you can find him."

"Sir!"

XXXXXXXXXX

The badly garbled sound of a familiar male voice began to reach through the blackness around the sixth division fukutaicho, but he found, as he tried to force out a reply, that neither his speech faculties nor his body appeared to be working properly. While it was good in that it meant pain from his body's receptors wasn't reaching him, it was also disturbing not to know the exact state of his damaged body. He tried again to make his lips move and his voice sound, but all that came out was an ugly gargling sound. The voice of the man with him cleared enough to hear as he instantly objected.

"Be quiet and stay still, Renji. You are safe. A curfew is in effect for the area and we are on lockdown. We are sheltered for the night."

 _Taicho._

 _When did he get here?_

"I have given you a pain block and healed what I can, but you need to lie still and be calm. There are likely still some enemies in the area. The heavy reiatsu from the quincy king's body is making it hard to sense incoming souls."

"I-ich-go…"

The grating, gurgling sound of his voice was awful, but the redhead ached to know.

"I have not heard anything yet," Byakuya informed him, "but there was no sign that he died during that blast or after, so I believe that he is alive. Rest now. I have placed a negative reiatsu cage around us, so that both of us can sleep. We will need to sleep close together to keep each other warm enough. It is icy cold tonight."

 _What did he just say?_

 _Fuck! I still can't open my eyes and I can't feel properly, but…is that…?_

He felt warmth radiating on the right side of his body, then something soft and lightly sweet smelling touched his face and shoulder.

 _I feel that!_

 _Is that him?_

Renji's heart pounded as a shocking thought occurred to him.

 _Oh man, what if I'm getting excited by him? Shit! How can I tell? I barely can feel anything…just…he's so close!_

 _What if I get hard?_

 _What if…?_

"Renji," Byakuya's voice rumbled sleepily in his ear.

 _This is torture! I mean, what if he…? What if I offend him? What if he gets the wrong idea? Or…oh god, what if he gets the right one?_

"Your reiatsu is getting riled. Are you having a nightmare?" Byakuya asked.

 _You have no idea!_

"If you get any more restless, I will have to put a sleep kido on you so that you do not give us away. Calm down, Renji."

 _That's easy for him to say. I'm paralyzed, next to the most beautiful shinigami in Soul Society and he tells me to be calm?_

"Very well, if you are going to be so stubborn, Abarai," Byakuya sighed.

Renji felt a little, warm throb of his taicho's power that entered his body and instantly sent his mind into a spin.

 _So not fair._

 _The one I most admire, the one I secretly love is holding me while I sleep…and…I…can't…fucking…move!_

 _Damn…how bad am I hurt?_

XXXXXXXXXX

"Damn, Kurosaki!" Grimmjow complained as he carried the stunned shinigami into a little cave and lowered him to the stone floor, "Making me carry you all of this way. Well, there's a sandstorm out there, so we can't go any further. I did manage to get into Hueco Mundo before the shinigamis locked everything down. This place is wrecked too, but, you're in luck. I happen to have a little hidden oasis, where there's everything we need to recover and knock some sense back into you."

He glared down at Ichigo's still stunned expression.

"Are you hearing me at all, asshole?" the blue-haired hollow yelled, "I don't wanna have to carry your big butt all of the way there, so you need to wake the hell up and pay attention!"

Ichigo remained motionless, his unseeing eyes aimed up at the ceiling of the cave.

"Damn it, will you wake th'fuck up?" Grimmjow steamed, kicking him and sending him crashing into the stone wall at the back of the cave.

He watched in mingled fascination and dismay as Ichigo struck the wall, hard enough to knock bits of the stone loose, then he collapsed onto the floor like a rag doll.

"GODDAMMIT!" the hollow roared, stomping to the back of the cave and dragging the unmoving shinigami onto his knees, clenching the front of his tattered shihakusho.

His blue eyes stared icily into Ichigo's, searching almost desperately for any sign of cognizance.

"ICHIGO!" he screamed in the young man's face, "FUCKING-WAKE-UP!"

For one breathless moment, Ichigo remained perfectly still, then his staring eyes blinked slowly, and began to clear. The shinigami substitute's golden brown orbs found Grimmjow's blue ones and blinked again.

"Grimmjow?" Ichigo managed shakily.

The former Espada almost smiled, but then stiffened and shoved the other man away.

"It's about fucking time you got your act together," the blue-haired hollow huffed, "Tch, making me carry you like some goddamned princess."

Ichigo blinked again and rubbed his eyes, then looked around questioningly.

"Wh-where are we?" he asked, giving the hollow a confused look.

"Where the hell do you think we are?" Grimmjow scolded him, "You should be able to tell we're in Hueco Mundo."

"Why did you bring me here?"

Grimmjow drew in a long breath and let it out slowly.

"Urahara said that it wouldn't be a good idea for you to stay in the Seireitei. Even the Rukongai isn't safe for you."

"Why not?" Ichigo asked, "Isn't Ywach dead?"

"Yeah," Grimmjow answered, settling on the ground and leaning against a stone wall, "and there are quite a lot of quincy survivors who are kinda pissed about that."

Ichigo's eyes dropped and a troubled look came onto his face.

"And why the hell would they care about that?" he mused, "The guy used all of them to kill the king and take the throne, then he destroyed his own people."

Grimmjow shot him a meaningful glare.

"Not that the rank and file down here know that," he said skeptically, "To them, they just sensed that the king recalled the power he gave those guys. Hey, it belonged to him. Nothing wrong with him taking it back, right?"

"Except for the fact that their lives went right along with it," Ichigo said sadly.

"A bastard's justice," Grimmjow said dispiritedly, "We got the same treatment from Aizen when he was done with us."

Ichigo studied the blue-haired hollow's weary expression for a moment.

"I'm sorry."

Grimmjow huffed out a scoffing breath.

"Don't be. You had nothing to do with all of that. You stopped them both."

Ichigo gazed at Grimmjow silently.

"So, how does that feel… _savior of the three worlds_?"

XXXXXXXXXX

"Well," Aizen said, looking up from the examination table he laid, restrained, on, "this is an interesting choice you've made. A locked and coded dimension within the precipice world? Are you sure it's stable?"

"Yup," Kisuke affirmed, smiling down at the former taicho as he finished healing the damage to Aizen's ruined chest, "I found it during my banishment and made sure to list it as dangerous, so that the Gotei 13 would avoid it. It's where I do some of my more… _interesting_ research."

"I would say, dubious," Aizen mused, "Are you going to leave me without an arm?"

"Can't seem to fix that," Kisuke said, studying the stump of the limb, "That was a direct hit. The hole in your chest was a glancing blow. The reiatsu wasn't as cooked there."

His fingers brushed against the bandaged edge of the stump and he frowned.

"I think even Orihime's power won't be able to help…not that I'd put her within a mile of you, but transcendent reiatu is tricky…and although, as you once said, her ability treads on the toes of the gods, it doesn't overpower their direct reiatsu strike. I'm going to need to think about this some."

"You're going to some effort," Aizen noted, "Why? Do you have some nefarious plans for me? Or…are you just going to use me to find answers, then send me back?"

"Well," Kisuke said, smirking, "can you really blame me for not wanting to loose you on poor ol' Soul Society again? I mean, Karakura Town barely escaped being destroyed just to make you a key to the royal realm. You don't think I'm going to let you loose to wreak that kinda havoc on everyone, do you?"

"How disappointing."

"You didn't like the treatment you got in Muken?" Kisuke chuckled, "There's a surprise. You said Mayuri tortured you?"

"I did."

"Did you enjoy it?"

"No."

"Well, maybe before you try to kill the king again, you'll think about the consequences, ne?"

"I know the king is dead."

Kisuke paused for a moment, looking down into Aizen's quiet brown eyes.

"When I send my reiatsu into a person to use my power, I can read what their senses have taken in," Aizen explained, "I saw that Ichigo is suffering, because the quincy king forced Ichigo's hand to end the king's miserable, imprisoned life."

"Ironic, huh?" Kisuke mused, shaking his head, "You can't do it, yourself, even in a transcendent body, but the reiatsu monster that your dastardly deeds created…finished the job for you."

"I'll have to thank him when I see him. He did survive, didn't he? I didn't sense his death."

"Ichigo's alive."

"Good."

Kisuke's grey eyes reflected a little moment of surprise, earning him a warmer look form the man on the examination table.

"Who would have thought that all of my wickedness would create something pure? Who would have thought there was a reason for everything that happened before."

"You've lost me," Kisuke said, studying him more closely, "What are you trying to tell me here, Sosuke?"

"Don't you understand?" Aizen asked more softly, " _Everything_ exists in a delicate balance. _Everything_."

XXXXXXXXXX

Rikichi kept his eyes on the floor of the large hospital ward as his quincy handler led him into a room, where three men laid in beds with monitors hooked up to them. An aged quincy leaned over one of the men, another quincy with long, blonde hair. Rikichi heard his brother give a little gasp and squeezed his hand warningly.

"That's the one who attacked my division," Ryuu managed to whisper to him, "He was with the quincy king."

"I heard his name was Haschwald," Riki whispered back.

"Be quiet, you two!" their handler snapped, "Get over there and help him."

The two youths approached the quincy physician, who gave them a curious look, then glanced back at their handler.

"These two will be of no use until they've been fed. They're nearly starved. Get them some food, Deryk."

Their handler scowled, but stomped away to bring the food. The doctor looked down at the two youths and smiled.

"Are you injured, yourselves?" he asked.

"N-no," Rikichi answered.

He stiffened and stared as he spotted Tetsuya on the third bed in the room. The doctor followed his gaze, then gave Rikichi a questioning look.

"You know that shinigami?" he asked.

"Ah…"

The doctor's smile warmed.

"I ask, because I am having trouble determining his injury. We can't wake him, and neither can we read his reiatsu. If you know this man, can you tell me if that is normal for him?"

Rikichi paused, struggling inwardly.

 _He's being nice now, but we're here in quincy territory. These are enemies. And…I don't know if this doctor will stick to an oath like the ones our healers take. I don't know if I can trust him._

He looked past the doctor to Tetsuya's troubled sleeping face.

 _But if I don't say anything, how will I help him? We need Tetsu-chan's help if we are to get out of here! I need to think of something!_

"I know why you hesitate," the old doctor assured him, "I am an enemy to you. And I can't promise to help you. I will promise not to hurt you or your friends. I just want to understand what I am looking at. This man…is not a normal shinigami. Can you tell me what he is?"

"I…I don't really know about all of that," Rikichi managed finally, "I only know that he is a healer."

He glanced at the two men lying in the other beds.

"He's a really good healer…a gentle person. If you help me to heal him, then I know…he can heal those two officers, there."

The doctor glanced at the two injured quincies, then looked back at Rikichi.

"We need their strength if we are to survive," the doctor confided, "The blonde man is Haschwald, the right hand of Ywach, and the red-haired man is Bazzard Black, a son of one of the old quincy noble houses. So, if you will help me, I will help you. Tell me what you can about this man, and I will try my best to awaken him…but when he wakes, he must heal those two. They are beyond my ability. But if this man is a powerful healer, like you say, maybe he can heal them."

Rikichi nodded.

"All healers in Soul Society are sworn to heal any who they can. I promise you, if you can awaken Tetsuya-san, he can heal those men!"


	3. The Burning Light

**Chapter 3: The Burning Light**

Renji woke to the same light, sweet sakura scent that he had fallen asleep to. His eyes still closed, he could feel silken hair tickling his face and that his nose was pressed into the warm juncture of another man's neck and shoulder. He could feel the other man's slow breaths as he slept, and not wanting to wake the man, Renji swallowed hard and hoped that his racing heartbeat wouldn't stir Byakuya. Still, to be pressed up against him, with his rough lips a mere inch from kissing the petal soft flesh might be the worst sort of torture the amorous redhead could imagine. And in the end, he gave in to the urge. Very slowly, he closed the distance, marveling at the warmth, the softness, the delicious scent and perfect taste.

 _Oh god, this is heaven!_

He remained frozen with his lips brushing against that pale, tender skin and tried hard not to stiffen as Byakuya gave a startled breath and opened his eyes.

"Abarai?"

Renji's heart nearly leapt out of his chest and he was all too aware that to do or say the wrong thing while injured and this close to his taicho could very well be the end of him. He drew a shaky breath and went limp, mumbling incoherently…except that, for some reason, he gave in to the sudden, intense urge to lick his lips slowly, savoring the wonderful flavor of his superior's skin that still radiated in his mouth.

"Mmmmm, Taicho?"

 _Don't be mad. Don't be mad. Please don't kill me._

Byakuya couldn't have missed the longing in his tone. He was sure of it. But whether it registered with him or not, Byakuya gave no sign of anger or revulsion, nor of acceptance. He merely sat up, making a little sob escape Renji, partly because of the loss of their closeness, but partly because of the agony wrought in the redhead's battered body as he moved.

"Augh!"

Byakuya leaned over him, looking down at him through lovely grey eyes that peeked through his uncharacteristically messy (and painfully sexy) raven colored hair.

"Renji, don't move!"

 _Like I could move after kissing him there, like that!_

 _Why didn't he kill me?_

He felt Byakuya's reiatsu penetrate his body as his taicho conducted a basic scan for injuries.

"There doesn't seem to be any internal bleeding," the noble commented, "Your spirit centers are a bit burned from overuse, but they will heal without intervention. Your…"

Renji's heart skipped a beat as Byakuya stiffened and said nothing for a moment.

"What?" he prompted the noble, "T-taicho, is…is something wrong?"

Byakuya hesitated a moment longer before his body relaxed slightly and he gave his answer.

"I am not a trained healer," he said quietly, "and you will need one to fully assess your injuries."

"Taicho!"

"But, you have injuries to your back and legs. These are serious, so I want you to remain still. Do you understand, Renji?"

"Sure. Yeah, of course," Renji answered easily, "until Orihime comes, right?"

Renji gave a little, nervous laugh.

"You know, even if I was dead…"

"Renji, don't talk like that!" the noble snapped.

Renji's jaw dropped and he blinked in surprise, noticing suddenly the uncertainty, even the edges of fear in his taicho's usually stern eyes.

"Eh…erm, sorry," he apologized, "It's just that there's not much that Orihime can't heal."

"Hmm…"

"Still, we have to worry about getting back."

"Back to what?" Byakuya sighed wearily, "There is not much left standing, though word has come that Kuchiki Manor is not completely destroyed. A shelter has been set up by the returning household. We could head there, but…"

Renji felt a twinge of anxiety at the man's hesitation.

"We should wait longer, until some of the swelling has eased, then we will see about getting you on your feet. After that, we can make a determination about our fitness for travel."

Renji felt a knot form in his throat.

"Okay," he managed around it, "Sure, Taicho."

 _Something is definitely wrong. Taicho knows that Orihime can heal just about anything. I mean, there was that time when she was unable to heal Yuzu, because of the hellish, chaotic reiatsu used on her…and…_

Renji's breath caught as he recalled the riled nature of the quincy king's power that had tossed his injured body like a ragdoll, sending it flying to crash down nearly a mile away from the battleground.

 _Damn._

 _How did Taicho even find me?_

He didn't want to think about the implications any more than it seemed his taicho did, so Renji forced his body to relax, and he made himself smile at the worried noble.

"H-hey, I'm kinda hungry," he said, trying to find any reason not to talk about his injury, "Did my rations survive me being blasted halfway across the damned Seireitei?"

"I am afraid not," Byakuya sighed, "but we have mine. I think we also have the little flask of liquor that you keep hidden in your clothing."

"Heh," Renji chuckled, grabbing at his aching side and flinching, "I could definitely use that."

He was surprised and more than a little scared that Byakuya placed the flask in his hand wordlessly, not even reminding him of the fact that he'd broken a military rule.

 _What's going on, Taicho?_

 _Am I hurt that bad?_

XXXXXXXXXX

Grimmjow entered the cave, carrying two plates of food. He set one down in front of Ichigo, who still sat cross-legged at the back of their little shelter, his head bowed and his golden-brown eyes red and haunted. Taking up a position in front of him, Grimmjow sat and began to eat. He eyed Ichigo aggressively, feeling twinges of annoyance at the shinigami's emotional state.

"You know, that food ain't gonna eat itself," he snapped in an irritated tone, "and you won't be able to go out there and save the three worlds again if you don't have any strength, right? Eat, will you, Kurosaki?"

The former Espada blinked in surprise at getting a dazed sounding answer.

"Shiba."

"What?" Grimmjow asked, scowling.

Ichigo hesitated, then let out a shaky breath.

"It's Shiba."

"What's Shiba?"

"That's my name."

"What? Did you get hit on the head?" Grimmjow said, giving him a stymied look, "Now, you _know_ your goddamned name is Ichigo, not Shiba. Stop fuckin' around with me!"

"I'm not kidding," Ichigo insisted, "I know I'm Ichigo, but my name isn't Kurosaki."

"What the hell are you talkin' about?" Grimmjow snapped.

"That was a lie he made up so that the shinigamis wouldn't find him."

"Him who?" Grimmjow mused helplessly, "Kurosaki…?"

"I told you, my name is Shiba. I am Shiba Ichigo."

Grimmjow gave him an exasperated look.

"My dad is really Shiba Isshin."

"Whoa! Hang on," the blue-haired man objected, "Did you mean Shiba, as in the Shinigami Shiba noble clan?"

"Yeah," Ichigo sighed raggedly, "that's what I mean. I tell you, everyone lies, Grimmjow. I thought Ywach was the enemy, but it turns out that even the good guys aren't who I thought they were."

"You're talking some bullshit," Grimmjow said off-handedly, "Don't get your panties in a bunch about it all."

"What do you mean?" Ichigo said angrily, "I just told you that my own father lied to me. My mother lied to me. Kisuke lied to me! They all lied to me about who I fucking am!"

"Yeah, so what?" Grimmjow yelled back, "Are you a goddamned idiot, Ichigo?"

"HEY!"

"People lie all of the time. Aizen lied to all of us Espadas too. He made us feel strong and important. He riled us up and made us want war with the shingamis. Then, he turned on us, just like fucking Ywach turned on his own people. Now, the quincies are fucked up, the hollow world is fucked up and Soul Society is in pieces. The lies have come down around our ears, so they don't fucking matter any more."

"How can you say that?"

Grimmjow's hand shot out, grabbing Ichigo by the torn front of his shihakusho. He brought the ginger-haired man's face close to his, glaring hard into Ichigo's rounded eyes.

"When the lies bring your world crashing down and you're left layin' in the rubble," Grimmjow growled, "all that you have left is the truth."

"What good does that…?"

Ichigo went silent, staring into the hollow's feral blue eyes as Grimmjow's still scowling mouth crashed headlong into his, and Grimmjow brought him down on his back, scattering the remnants of their food.

"Mph, hey!" Ichigo managed between the hollow's scathing kisses, "What are y-you…?"

Grimmjow paused for a moment, glaring at him with an unabashedly hungry expression.

"I'm kissing you, stupid," he chuckled, "You looked like you needed some comfort. You've been kissed before, right?"

The young man's answer left Grimmjow stunned.

"No," Ichigo panted, touching his flushed lips with his fingertips, "that was my first kiss."

"Shit," Grimmjow mused, "If I'd known that, I would've done a better job of it."

XXXXXXXXXX

Rikichi and Ryuunosuke bent over the injured quincy they were tasked with stabilizing, stealing glances as the old quincy healer studied Tetsuya's still unconscious body, taking readings with a handheld scanner, then biting at his lips gently. He flipped to a previous page in the Shinigami patient's chart, comparing the numbers, then he nodded as though he'd spotted something important. Rikichi barely bit back a question, and he redoubled his efforts with the patient given into his care, sighing as the man's reaitsu finally reached normal levels.

"Very good," the old healer said approvingly, "Come, you look worn and could probably use a break."

"Or maybe you have questions for us," Rikichi said with an edge of skepticism.

"Are you really going to hold that against me?" the man chuckled, "After all, I am a doctor. I want to provide the best care for this man."

"Hmm, so that your bosses can hurt him and pump him for information?" he asked unhappily.

"My boy, I try not to think about the things I can't control," the healer answered, "Do I know that your friend is likely to be questioned? Yes. I can't stop them from questioning him, and I can't stop them from hurting him if he doesn't give them what they want. But if I let myself be too troubled about that, I might not focus properly on his healing, and that would only cause him more suffering. A healer is supposed to lessen suffering where he can."

Rikichi started to speak, but the man held up a staying hand.

" _Without_ bringing additional suffering onto myself," he added, narrowing his eyes, "Boys, I am sorry. Your friend used an unnaturally strong power that has piqued their interest. They think he might be useful in some way, or they wouldn't be wasting time on him. You should just be glad that you are all still alive, and be looking for a way to slip away as soon as he awakens."

He looked at the two young men more closely, then honed in on Rikichi.

"I don't suppose that your friend has ever discussed the details of his power with you?" he asked.

"What? No," Rikichi answered, shaking his head firmly, "I knew Tetsuya-san had a bankai, but not that he had something that was so powerful."

"Powerful is right," the old quincy healer agreed, gently closing the unconscious shinigami's clothing, "From what I can tell, his use of that power damaged his body so that this period of recovery is necessary. I was able to stabilize him and to restore his reiatsu, but the damage to the centers that he uses to control the flow of reiatsu must heal on its own. Applying healing reiatsu only puts more pressure on those areas, and it is important not to touch them with reaitsu until they are not to raw with overuse. In any case, although this young man will likely be without his powers for some time, I anticipate that he will wake soon."

Rikichi's face fell.

"And then, they'll probably want to interrogate him," he said worriedly.

The healer nodded.

"Yes, however, I will do my best to impress upon them that if they want him to be of any use, he must be allowed to heal completely."

"Thank you," Rikichi said gratefully, "I…don't know why you are helping us, but…"

The healer let out a soft breath.

"I am a healer," he sighed, looking down at Tetsuya again, "I do not delight in anyone's pain, especially in that of a gentle person, such as this one, whose mission in life is much the same as mine. I have tried to explain that Tetsuya's power is not a power useful for fighting, but is instead, for healing. I cannot tell you if they will listen."

"But you say he will wake soon?"

"Yes, he will wake soon."

XXXXXXXXXX

"So," Aizen said, looking up at the blonde man who leaned over him, "are you going to tell me what you've found that has you looking so stymied? You know, two heads are better than one, right?"

"Heh," the shopkeeper chuckled, "Not when one of those heads sits on the shoulders of a destructive sociopath."

"Again you use that word," Aizen said, smirking, "Wouldn't you say that while a person who tries to overthrow a god is a sociopath, but that one who tries to overthrow a fake god is a truthbearer?"

"So, now you're going to argue that while your methods were underhanded, and at times, cruel, since you were doing what was, in the end, _the right thing_ , everyone should just forget the damage you did? Personally, I don't think that's gonna fly, do you?"

Aizen shrugged.

"Maybe not with the sages and judges who survived Ywach's ramapage, but somehow I feel encouraged to believe that you will feel differently."

Kisuke's pale grey eyes narrowed.

"And why the heck do you care what I think?" he asked, "Do you honestly think that after everything you did, I would ever trust you again?"

The shopkeeper's breath caught as the fingers from Aizen's restrained hand brushed against his wrist and his mind was suddenly taken back in time.

 _A warm arm curled around him and even warmer brown eyes searched his._

" _You are one of the most brilliant minds of our time," Sousuke said appreciatively, "You have had to tread carefully because of that."_

 _Kisuke smiled as the other man's smiling lips sought his._

" _Is that what you're doing?" he chuckled, "Treading carefully, Sousuke?"_

" _Me? I suppose I should, but…you inspire me, Urahara Kisuke."_

"Are you all right?" Aizen asked, breaking him out of his reverie.

Kisuke's frown deepened and he pulled his hand away.

"Fine," he lied, "Never better."

"Hmm, I see."


End file.
